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"The Filibustering Policy of the Sham Democracy. 



SPEECH 

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HON. JOHN J. PERRY, OF MAINE. 



Delivered in the House of Representatives, May 29, 1860. 



The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state 
of the Union— 

Mr. PERRY said : 

Mr. Chairman: Would the interests of the 
American people be promoted by the acquisition 
of foreign territory to the Government of the 
United States? This question has been thrust 
upon the country by a class of men, better known 
as freebooters and iilibusters, who hang around 
our cities and large towns, plotting robbery and 
treason. We hear of them in New York, Mobile, 
New Orleans, and other large commercial cities, 
when perhaps the next telegraph wafts the news 
that these banditti of adventurers have set sail 
for some foreign port, to rob and murder the 
peaceable citizens of a country bearing the most 
friendly relations to our own Government. 

These lawless men would have but a poor no- 
toriety, were these schemes and plots universally 
denounced and frowned down by the great body 
of law-abiding citizens in the country. What 
are the facts? A great political organization in 
the United States has endorsed their wicked pol- 
icy, and given an assumed dignity to filibustering, 
which it never could otherwise have acquired. 
It ha3 stepped In as Godl'ather to these guerrilla 
robbers, and raised an issue in the political arena 
which must be met and settled. That issue I now 
propose to meet in the broad field of discussion. 

While American citizens, upon American soil, 
in the States of this Union, under the broad ban- 
ner of the " stars and stripes," merely for enter- 
taining opinions expressed and handed down to 
them by the very men who founded this Repub- 
lic, were being driven by mob violence from their 
homes and firesides, and compelled to flee to 
other States to save themselves from the hands 
of the assf ssin ; while others, for the same causes, 
were being seized, thrust into prisons, insulted, 
whipped, tarred and feathered, the President ex- 
presses no sympathy for them — insultingly passes 
over these outrages, with a studied silence, pious- 
ly turns his eye3 away to Mexico, and says : 

" Large numbers of our citizens have been arrested and 
imprisoned without any form of examination, or any oppor- 
tunity for a hearing, and even when released have only ob- 
tained their liberty alter much suffering and injury, and 
without any hope uf redress." 

Yes, sir ; like the improvident, inhuman father, 
he leaves his own family to the tender mercies 
of lawless violence, and sits down and weeps 
over the imaginary ills of his neighbor. 



But Mr. Buchanan does not stop here. In the 
same message he further says : 

" I regret to inform you that there has been no improve- 
ment in the affairs of Mexico since my last annual message, 
and lam again obliged to ask the earnest attention of Con- 
gross' to the unhappy condition of that Republic." 

The wrongs and insults to American citizens 
are unworthy his notice, while be here " asks 
the earnest attention of Congress to the unhappy 
condition of a foreign Republic." 

But what is the remedy proposed by the Pres- 
ident for the relief of this suffering Republic ? 
As I do not wish to misrepresent him, I will let 
him answer for himself. 

In the same message he further says : 

"For these reasons, I recommend to Congress to pass a 
law authorizing the President, under such conditions as 
they may deem expedient, to employ a sufficient military 
lorco to enter .Mexico for the purpose of obtaining indemnity 
for the past and security for the future." 

Not satisfied with'tbis, he further claims to be 
clothed with despotic power when he says : 

"I repeat the recommendation contained in my last an- 
nual message, that authority may be given to the President 
to establish one. or more temporary military posts across 
the Mexican line in Sonera and Chihuahua." 

The war-making power is wisely reserved by 
the Constitution in Congress — an independent, 
co-ordinate branch of the Government — yet the 
President has the audacity to demand of Con- 
gress power to " cross the Mexican line" establish 
"military posts" on foreign soil, without the 
consent of the Government which has the law- 
ful jurisdiction over it. He further asks a " suffi- 
cient MILITARY FORCE TO ENTER MEXICO, for the 

purpose of obtaining indemnity for the past, and 
security for the future." 

What is the true significance of all this? 
•' Wak '. War ! my Lord.' 1 
The President asks to be made a despot. Clothed 
with this power, like a military tyrant, he pro- 
poses to invade a neighboring confederacy, plant 
" military posts," and with the sword in one 
hand, and the decrees of a dictator in the other, 
establish a military despotism over Mexico. 

But the President not only demands the army 
to enable him to make war upon Mexico, but, 
under the artful pretence of protecting our transit 
routes to the Pacific coa3t, he asks the naval 
force of the country to be placed at his com- 
mand. He says : 

" I deem it to be my duty once more earnestly to recom- 
mend, to Congress the passage of a law authorizing the Pres- 



PUBLI3HED BY THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE. PRICE 50 CENTS PER HUNDRED. 



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ident to employ the naval force at his command for the 
purpose of protecting the fives and property of AniiTicm 
citizens passing in transit across the Panama, Nicaragua, 
and Tehuantepec routes, against sudden and lawless out- 
breaks and deprecations." 

Such is another demand made in his last an- 
nual message. This means tvar upon Central 
America. 

The old Ostend Chief is not satisfied with all 
this. He asks the army, the navy, and then, to 
vest himself with all the powers of a Russian 
Autocrat, he demands the " Purse " of the nation. 
Again listen to an extract from his message: 

"I need not repeat the arguments which I urged in my 
last annual message in favor of the acquisition of Cuba by 
fair purchase. Jly opinions on that measure remain un- 
changed. I therefore again invite the serious attention of 
Congress to this important subject." 

What were the " arguments " urged in a former 
message to which he "again invites the serious 
attention of Congress?" In his message to Con- 
gress, December 6, 1858, he adopts the stereo- 
typed arguments that have been in the mouths 
of Cuban filibusters for years in favor of acqui- 
sition, and winds oft' with the demand that "he 
should be intrusted with the means of making an 
advance to the Spanish Government, immediately 
after the signing of the treaty, without awaiting 
the ratification of it by the Senate." 

In response to this demaud of the President, 
his Democratic; friends in the Senate reported a 
bill, and undertook to force it through Congress, 
placing in his hands thirty millions of dollars, 
and this, too, when we were compelled to borrow 
money to keep us from national bankruptcy. 

Having fairly stated the positions assumed by 
the President, I add that other undeniable fact, 
that his foreign policy is the policy of the Demo- 
cratic party of this country. 

The ingenious and elaborate speech of the dis- 
tinguished gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Cox] upon 
" Mexican affairs'," made in this House oil the 
19th ot March, is evidence direct to the point. 

It becomes here an important inquiry, what 
are the ultimate results sought to be obtained 
by this course of policy? But one answer can 
be given. It means the annexation of Cuba, 
Mexico, and Central America, to the Government of 
the United Stales. 

Would these acquisitions be wise, expedient, 
and would they promote the interests of the 
country ? This is the issue, and I meet it with 
an emphatic negation. 

Before proceeding with my argument, I desire 
to say that I am not the advocate of the doctrine 
that no contingency can ever arise in which the 
acquisition of foreign territory would be justifi- 
able as a matter of sound national policy. 

I believe that every proposition of this kind 
must stand or fall upon its own merits, independ- 
ent of the operations of any arbitrary rules. 

Again I assert, there is a marked distinction 
to be made between the acquisition of foreign 
territory in its wilderness state, and territory 
already peopled. 

I lay it down as a sound rule, subject only to 
the exceptions incident to all general rules, that 
it is against a sound national policy ever to ac- 
quire foreign territory, already inhabited, unless 
the people the; eof by their virtue and intelligence 
are fitted for self-govern nent. 

1. My first objection to the acquisition of for- 
eign soil is based upon the fact that we now 



have territory enough for all purposes. We hai 
a sufficient extent of sea coast and inland com 
munications, through gulfs, lakes, and navigable 
rivers, all lined with good and safe harbors, to 
answer all the wants and necessities of naviga- 
tion and commerce. 

Our country abounds in all the rich resources 
of mineral wealth, and is interspersed all over 
with forests, yielding an abundant supply of wood 
and timber. For agricultural purposes, our re- 
sources are inexhaustible. According to the 
census of 1850, we had one thousand seven hun- 
dred and sixty-one million three hundred and 
sixty-three thousand six hundre.l and eighty- 
four (1,761,363,684) acres of land in the limits 
of the Union — of this, about one-sixth, or two 
hundred and ninety-three million five hundred 
and sixty thousand six hundred and fourteen 
(293,560,614) acres, including improved and 
unimproved, were occupied ; leading one thou- 
sand four hundred and sixty-seven million 
eight hundred and three thousand and seventy 
(1,407,803,070) acres unoccupied. 

Prom the same census, it appears* that the 
average amount of land in a single farm was 
two hundred and three acres. Allowing that 
one-fifth instead of one-sixth of the whole ter- 
ritory is now occupied, it would make, at two 
hundred acres of land to the farm, seven mil- 
lion forty-five thousand four hundred and fifty- 
five (7,045,455) farms yet to be occupied. So 
that, taking the population of 1850 and the 
ratio of land then occupied, compared with the 
residue unoccupied, we now have land enough 
for agricultural purposes to sustain a population 
of more than one hundred and thirty million. 
Thus it will be seen we now have land enough 
to sustain the prospective population of this 
country for more than a century to come. 

2. I am opposed to the further acquisition of 
territory on account of the cost. 

The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report to 
the present Congress, says that the public debt of 
the United States on the 1st of July, 1858, was 
$25,155,977.66; and on the 30th of June, 1859, 
$58,754,699.33. From this it appears the present 
Administration has in a single year run us in 
debt thirty-three million five hundred and ninety- 
seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-one 
dollars and sixty-seven cents ($33,597,721.67.) 
The President, in his last annual -message, in- 
forms the country thatf, in carrying on the Gov- 
ernment for the last fiscal year, it cost the enor- 
mous sum of eighty-eight million ninety thou- 
sand seven hundred and eighty-seven dollars 
and eleven cents ($88,090,787.11*.) 

Here is the mortifying spectacle presented to 
the American people, of a President, the repre- 
sentative of a party calling itself "Democratic," 
absorbing the whole revenue of the Government, 
borrowing forty millions, and more than doubling 
the public debt in a single year, at the same time 
calling upon Congress to vote him thirty million 
dollars, to be used as an advance payment to 
Spain for the purchase of Cuba. All this has 
been done by Mr. Buchanan, with a full knowl- 
edge on his part that our Government, upon one 
occasion at least, secretly r offered Spain two hun- 
dred millions for'Cuba, and that Government re- 
fused to entertain the proposition for a moment. 

The President has not only been intriguing for 



/ 



Cuba, but his paid emissaries have been plotting 
■with Juarer : for Sonora, Chihuahua, aDd Lower 
California, in Mexico. A permanent national 
debt, to* drag down the people by ruinous exor- 
bitant taxation, is the policy of James Buchanan 
and his party. 

The amount of purchase money paid is, after 
all, a small item, compared with with the expense 
entailed upon us by the annexation of foreign 
territory. Past history proves this. Florida cost 
us originally but five million ; yet there followed 
a war against the Indians, and to hunt fugitive 
slaves who had taken refuge among them, which 
took from the national Treasury more than one 
hundred millions. 

Texas, when she was annexed, was said to 
come in without cost to us; yet we paid ten 
million to settle her boundary claim, ten million 
more for her indemnity claim, and seven million 
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for her 
creditors, by act of the Thirty-third Congress. 

This was not all; her annexation led to the 
Mexican war. which cost us, according to the 
report of the Secretary of War in 1851, two hun- 
dred and seventeen million one hundred and 
seventy-five thousand five hundred and seven- 
ty-five dollars ($217,1 75,575.) 

Unless the filibustering schemes of Mr. Bu- 
chanan and his party can be intercepted by hurl- 
ing them from power, they will entail a public 
debt upon the American people, eternal as that 
of England; which nation, great and powerful 
as she is, is in the hands of the mmey power — 
Thile the Rothschilds and Barings are a " power 
behind the throne, greater ihan the throne itself." 

3. To acquire foreign territory at the present 
lime would involve u? in difficulties with foreign 
Powers. I have already alluded to the Mexican 
syar which followed as one of the fruits of the 
annexation of Texas. Xo portion of Mexico could 
be annexed, by negotiation and treaty, without 
leading to belligerent demonstrations on the 
part of some of the factions in that distracted 
country. Juarez rules at Vera Cruz, and Mira- 
mon in the city of Mexico. Any kind of treaty 
that our Government could make with Juarez, 
for the annexation of Lower California, Chihua- 
hua, Sonora, or any other .Mexican .State, would 
be casus belli with tin Miramon party. In proof 
of this, let me call your attention to the fact, 
that the capture of the two Mexican steamers 
before Vera Cruz, by Captain Turner — an act, in 
my judgmeut, unwise and indiscreet, if not con- 
trary to the law of nations — was followed by a 
decree of Miramon, ordering the Americans out 
of the courftry, and their property confiscated. 
And I am not certain that Miramon has not a 
right to protest against the acts of Oapt. Turner; 
for, notwithstanding the Administration justify 
his conduct, they do it at the expense of claiming 
what they emphatically denied to England in 
the Gulf two I ■, and that, too, at the 

hazard of a collision with the British Govern- 
ment. It may be said, in reply, we could send 
our armies and navies, and crush nut and con- 
quer the Miramon Government. So we could; 
and so we could, with a spirit of Vandalism, 
overrun and conquer all Mexico; but it would 
be a siu against God, an outrage upon a weak 
neighboring Republic, and an eternal disgrace 
to the American name. 



It is these collisions and difficulties that I am 
arguing against. I would avoid them by mind- 
ing our own business, taking care of our own 
affairs, and leave other nations to settle their 
difficulties in their own way. 

Again : we never csn annex Cuba to this Gov- 
ernment, without disturbing the peaceable rela- 
tions existing between us and the I'hiropean Pow- 
ers. England would never suffer Cuba to become 
a French province, without her national inter- 
ference ; neither would France suffer her to pass 
under the British Crown, and both of these great 
Powers would unite again; t her annexation to 
the United States. It is no answer to my argu- 
ment to say that, if we should purchase Cuba, 
it would be none of their business. I am deal- 
ing with the fact, and not with the right or 
wrong of the matter, so far as England and 
France are concerned. 

Every man who has a thimble-full of states- 
manship in his brains, must know, and does 
know, that all past attempts on our part to ne- 
gotiate with Spain for the purchase of Cuba, have 
been looked upon with a jealom-, watchful eye 
by both of these Governments ; a id upon more 
than one occasion, both the Engli h and French 
Ministry, in their diplomatic intercourse with 
Spain, have formally " protested" against any 
such act on her part. 

Both of these Governments have adopted, and 
continue to maintain, a policy adverse to chattel 
negro slavery. 

4. The annexation of forc'gu territory corrupts 
the ballot-box, and more ospecia ly would this 
be true by the acquisition of Cut a, or any por- 
tion of Mexico, or Central / meric •.. 

The purity of the ballot-l ox is he only safety 
of a Republic. Destroy this, and you destroy 
the whole superstructure. Virtue and intelli- 
gence are our only safeguards iu this respect. 
.Mtii, to vote understanding!}-, must possess in- 
telligence ; they should understand, at least, 
something of our language, our manners, cus- 
toms, and laws ; and, as a requisite, absolutely 
necessary to the right discharge of this duty, 
they should understand the theory and practical 
operation of our Government. 

No intelligent statesman will controvert the 
premises here assumed. Arguirg from these, 
let us look at the condition of thii gs that would 
follow the annexation of all or any of the terri- 
tory above referred to. In order to a right un- 
derstanding of this, the character of the population 
the territory would bring with it should be ex- 
plained. 

In Cuba, according to Colton's Geography, 
there were, in 18. r >0, one million nine thousand 
and sixty (1,009,060) inhabitants. Of this pop- 
ulation, five hundred and nine thousand nine 
hundred and ninety-eight were whiles, one hun- 
dred and seventy-six thousand six hundred and 
for y-seven free blacks, and two hundred and 
sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and seven- 
teen slaves. Of the white population, 90,000 
j were Spaniards, 25,000 Canary Islanders, 3,000 
French, 1,000 English, and about 3,000 North 
I Americans. The people, as a mass, are grossly 
ignorant. According to the same author, there 
are but 460 in primary schools in the 

I whole island. According to the best statistics 
I I can gather upon the subject, not one child in 



fifty has any means of education afforded them 
whatever. 

Let us now turn our attention to Mexico, and 
take a look at the character of her population. 
The Republic of Mexico is divided into twenty- 
one States, three Territories, and one Federal 
District. According to the census of 1851, she 
had a population of seven million six hundred 
and sixty-one thousand five hundred and twenty 
(7,661,520) souls. 

Colton, in his Geography, which is as good 
authority as any we have on the subject, says 
that this population is divided up as follows : 

Whites 1,000,000 

Indians 4,000,000 

Negroes ----- 6,000 

Yabos,mulattoes, quadroons, and 

quinteroons - - - - 2,055,520 

7,661,520 
The most gross ignorance everywhere prevails 
in the Confederacy. "We may be assured," says 
Tejad, " that at least three-fourths of the inhabit- 
ants do not know that there is such a thing as 
an A B C in the world." They are almost en- 
tirely destitute of schools. In the city of Mexico, 
with a population of 200,000, they had in 1850 
but 129 schools, and about 7,000 scholars. 
Here are less than one-seventh of the population 
white, and they are made up mainly of Spaniards 
and other foreigners, all speaking a foreign lan- 
guage. 

I now pass to Central America. This is di- 
vided into five States, or Provinces, as follows: 
Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, 
and Costa Rica. These have a population of two 
million nineteen thousand (2,010,000.) This is 
exclusive of all Indians, who are not directly 
incorporated in the civil organization of the 
several States. Of the population of Central 
America, about three-fifths are Indians; three- 
tenths mixed Indians and whites, called Ladinos ; 
one-tenth descendants of the whites; and the 
remainder negroes, sambos, &c. In these States 
ignorance everywhere reigns. Another fact I 
wish to put in here There is but one religion 
in Cuba, Mexico, and Central America. That is 
Roman Catholic, and established by law. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, can any man in the whole 
country be so blind that he cannot see the conse- 
quences of all this, so far as it would affect the 
purity of elections ? Talk about these uncivil- 
ized, ignorant, mixed races being capable of 
self-government — understanding how to vote, or 
who to vote for! It is all a monstrous absurdity. 

Annex Cuba, Mexico, Central America — either 
or all — and you inject the very poison of death 
into the life-blood that gives vitality to repub- 
lican institutions. 

5. The transfer of an ignorant foreign popula- 
tion to our Government would demoralize us as 
a people. Vice is generally the handmaid of 
ignorance. I have spoken of the effects of igno- 
rance and superstition upon the political institu- 
tions of our country. No people can successfully 
govern themselves, and make their institutions 
permanent, unless they are under the influences 
of a Christian civilization. The very idea of self- 
government involves this principle. We see it 
developed and demonstrated in communities all 
over the country. Go into any community, North 



or South, East or West, and wherever you find 
ignorance and bigotry, there you wiU find vice 
and wickedness. The latter is the legitimate 
fruit of the former. Just in the same proportion 
as we elevate or lower the standard of a sound 
Christian morality, so in the same degree we 
strengthen or weaken our Government. The in- 
troduction of a degraded, half-civilized element 
among our people disturbs the great moral equi- 
librium. It pulls down the scale of moral excel- 
lence which graduates our national Christianity. 
Bring among us the untutored, unlearned, bigot- 
ed masses of Cuba, Mexico, and Central Amer- 
ica, a wild horde of mixed races, who have no 
fixed standard of morals, and who can fail to see 
and understand the consequences to the Amer- 
ican people in a moral point of view ? 

6. To acquire new territory, is to load down 
the people with additional taxation, and add a 
large amount to our aunnal national expendi- 
tures. Our annual expenses now exceed eighty 
million dollars. Thirty years ago, they were 
only about fifteen millions. Suppose Cuba or 
Mexico or Central America annexed to us, how 
would you govern them? I have shown they 
were in no condition to adopt ^//"-government. 
The restraining, controlling influences of Amer- 
ican civilization would have no influence over 
them. They are in no degree "Americanized.'' 
They are ignorant of our institutions, laws, and 
customs. The high moral considerations and 
love of patriotism which prompt loyal American 
citizens to obey the laws of their country, would 
be to them considerations weaker than the flimsy 
texture of a spider's web. 

There is but one answer to the question; they 
would have to be governed by a military despot- 
ism. They have been educated to this mode of 
Government, In Mexico, military chieftains have 
ruled the country for years. They govern it now. 
If the people were capable of self-government, 
these military despots would be powerless, so far 
as their schemes of personal ambition are con- 
cerned. 

So it is with Cuba. The people there are gov- 
erned by a standing army. Nothing but military 
force keeps them in subjection. In 1851, the 
Spanish Government kept in Cuba 16 regiments 
of infantry, composed of - - 17,600 men. 
2 battalions of cavalry - - 1,808 " 
1 battalion of artillery - - 1,500 " 
1 company of engineers - - 130 " 

Total standing army, - - 21,038 " 
To these should be added one company of sap- 
pers and miners. 

From their exposed condition and extensive 
sea coast, the same Government supplies a naval 
force of twenty-five vessels, carrying 219 guns, 
and manned by 3,000 seamen. 

Just look at the army and naval expenditures 
in governing the Island for a single year (1851.) 
Naval appropriations - - $2,045,004 
Military appropriations - - 5,028,901 



7,073,905 

To these add civil appropriations 1,841.010 
,,. ,, _ :„.:„.,„ 1,300,731 



Total, - 
A 'o these a^v. 
Miscellaneous appropriations 

Total expenses, 1851 



10,215,646 



»J 



This was in 1851. Since that time the expen- 
ses of government have largely increased. 

These items comprise only the annual expend- 
itures, and do not embrace th.e eDormou3 outlay 
oi' raising, clothing, and equipping an army, and 
building and manning ships for a navy. Should 
we purchase Cuba, the Spanish army and navy 
would be withdrawn, and our treasury would be 
plundered of its millious and tens of millions to 
meet this outlay. 

I have before me the army register of the 
United States for 1860, published by order of 
the Secretary of the War. From this it appears 
we have a standing army (inclusive) of 12,931 
men. 

According to the report of the Secretary of the 
Treasury (Ex. Doc. No. 3) made to this Congress, 
there was paid out of the Treasury for " service 
of War Department," $23,243,822.38 for the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1859. Of this sum, 
$16,534,011.55 were for the "army proper." 
A proposition to annex Cuba is a proposition to 
increase our standing army from 12,931 to 
33,909, almost treble it, and to saddle on to the 
people of this country the additional expense of 
raising, arming, and clothing an army of over 
twenty thousand men, building and manning an 
additional navy of twenty-five ships, and then 
paying out of the national Treasury annually 
more than seven million dollars to support it. 
In a word, it is a proposition to tax the people 
ten or twelve million dollars annually, and that 
to acquire a territory containing only about a 
million inhabitants. 

If we change the scene from Cuba to Mexico 
and Central America, we have the same homely 
picture presented before us. We find a people 
equally uncivilized, equally incapable of self- 
government. 

Nothing but a strong military force would 
compel them to observe our laws and respect 
our institutions. The acquisition of this terri- 
tory would compel us to dot it all over with 
military posts. These would have to be manned 
with detachments from the regular array. Then 
would follow a large increase of our regular 
army force, as a matter of absolute necessity. 
These posts would have to be furnished with 
supplies at a prodigious expense. 

To purchase the territory to which I have 
called the attention of the House and the country, 
or any considerable portion of the same, would 
be plunging us into debt, and creating an annual 
drain upon the Treasury of millions and tens of 
millions, to be paid in taxes upon the people, in 
addition to the enormous annual expenses now 
heaped upon them by the prodigality and cor- 
ruption of the national administration. 

7. The annexation of territory would spread, 
strengthen, and perpetuate African slavery. 

Whatever the people living in the slave States 
of this Union may think or say respecting the 
institution of slavery, people in the free States 
believe it a great moral, social, and political 
evil. Acting upon these convictions, ihey believe 
it to be their duty to use all legal constitutional 
means to prevent its extension into free territory. 

What would be the effect of the acquisition of 
Mexico to the United States, so far as it relates 
to the question of African slavery? Slavery now 
has no legal existence in that country ; would 



the annexation of Mexican States change their 
domestic institutions? 

I could quote largely from the speeches and 
writings of Southern gentlemen to show why 
they desire the transfer of a part or the whole of 
Mexico to this Government; to show the motive 
power which impels them to favor this acquisi- 
tion of foreign territory, but neither time nor the 
limits of my speech will allow it. 

I will, however, make a single extract from a 
speech delivered in this House in the early part 
of the session, by a leading member of the Demo- 
cratic party, an honorable member from Missis- 
sippi, [Mr. Singleton.] That gentleman said: 

" The question now is, it we sever tin- connection which 
binds us ami the North together, how ore we to preserve 
tin' institution of slavery f There is hut one mode b) which, 
in my humble judgment, it can )m perpetuated for any con- 
siderable number of years. We may fail in that, but cer- 
tainly it. is the surest chance offered us to preserve it. That 
mode is by expansion, and that expansion must be in the 
direction of .Mexico, ai present ther.e is no settled govern- 
ment there. It is, to all intents and purposes, defunct ; and 
wc have the right, to the exclusion of all others, to admin- 
ister upon the estate ; and when we have wound it up, there 
being uo better heirs than ourselves, we will he compelled 
to hold that territory. That will afford us an outlet tor 
slavery. There is in Mexico a large extent of territory that 
is suited to the cultivation of cotton, sugar, and rice. In 
my opinion, we must, and we are compelleo to, expand in 
that direction, and thus perpetuate it — a hundred or a thou- 
sand years, it may be." 

When they talk to us about the acquisition of 
Mexico, it means the "expansion and perpetua- 
tion " of slavery. 

This is" the issue frankly tendered, and it 
should be as frankly met. Let there be no 
dodging among Northern Democrats. This "ex- 
pansion" policy, is the policy of the Democratic 
party North and South. It is the policy urged 
by t tie executive head of the party in the White 
House. 

The reasons urged by the Democracy and the 
South in favor of the acquisition of Mexico are 
the very reasons which compel the people of the 
free States to oppose it. We want the people of 
the free States to know where they stand upon 
this question. To vote with the Democratic 
party is to vote for the policy and schemes of 
pro-slavery extensionists. 

The raid of William Walker into Nicaragua, 
and of the filibusters who lost their lives in So- 
nora, were both prosecuted with a view to the 
extension of the slave power of the country. 

The annexation of Cuba would bring with it 
its slavery ; lor no treaty can ever be made for 
its put chase, without a stipulation guarantying 
vested rights in whatever is there deemed prop- 
erty. It would add to the slave population of 
this country about three hundred thousand, be- 
sides a large number of free blacks. When ad- 
mitted as a State, it would come in a slave 
State. Its representation in both houses of Con- 
gress would be a re-entorcement to the pro-sla- 
very interests of the country in that department 
of the Government. 

8. My last general objection to the acquisition 
of Cuba, Mexico, or Central America, is found 
in the fact that a consummation of these filibus- 
tering schemes would tend to a dissolution of 
the Union. 

Whether or not the Union is really in danger, 
is a question about which there is a difference 
of opinion. That it has been violently threat- 
ened, all who have watched passing events must 



6 

admit. These threats have come from the Dem- I of their power to molest, even in the smallest 



ocratic party in the South. My own judgment 
is, that they will not at present, if ever, be car- 
ried into execution. This conclusion is based 
upon the assumption that I believe has all the 
stubbornness of a fact — that an overwhelming 
majority of the people, both North and South, 
are opposed to disunion ; and so long as this is 
the case, politicians can never disrupt the Govern- 
ment. Yet we have disturbing elements in our 
Government, and one of them is the agitating 
question of slavery. As a necessary sequence to 
convert free into slave territory, or to acquire 
territory already covered with slavery, is to add 
to the excitement and agitation which already 
exists. If the slaveholding States, or any por- 
tion of them, have a serious intention of sece- 
ding from the Union, what would be their natu- 
ral policy ? Most certainly, to fortify them- 
selves with as large area of slave territory as 
possible. If the South revolt, and succeed in 
their attempts at revolution, then there is but 
one contingency talked about — to wit, a "South- 
ern Republic." If a Southern Republic is calcu- 
lated upon by the secessionists and milliners, 
what policy would Naturally suggest itself in an 



degree, the fleets of the world, that might pass 
and repass at pleasure. This is a full, complete, 
and conclusive answer to the assumption, that 
Cuba is necessary to us in a military point of 
view. If it he said a navy, in case of the annex- 
ation of Cuba, could be put upon these waters 
to protect our commerce, I answer, that is aban- 
doning your argument. Navies protect our 
commerce upon the broad expanse of oceans. 

When you change the issue from military posts 
and fortifications to war steamers and naval fleets, 
which float upon seas, oceans, gulfs, and rivers, 
the world over, you abandon your own chosen 
position, and serve notice upon your opponents 
that you give it up. But, as the friends of Cuba 
annexation often quote from a letter written by 
Mr. Jefferson 10 President Madison, dated April 
27, 1809, upon the probable policy of Napoleon, 
I will give a short extract from the same, in 
which Mr. Jefferson, in speaking of the acqui- 
sition of foreign territory, said: " Nothing should 
ever be accepted which would require a navy to 
defend it." 

2. It is contended that the annexation of Cuba 
would put an end to the foreign slave trade. 



ticipat'ion of that event ? Purchase Cuba, make ! The President, in his annual message to the 
the Federal Government pay for it, go down into ■ second session of the last Congress, in speaking 
Mexico with the filibustering schemes and plots [ of the acquisition of Cuba, said: "If this were 
of James Buchanan and his party, under the i accomplished, the last relic of the African slave 
false pretence of bringing peace to a distracted ! trade would instantly disappear." Now, with 



what grace does a declaration of this kind come 
from Mr. Buchanan, who, in his last annual mes- 
sage to this House, virtually admits that the fo'r- 



people ; then declare " Avar exists by the act of 
Mexico," go into a fight, seize Chihuahua, So- 
nora, and some half dozen other States, and 

again rob the National Treasury to pay some J eign slave trade is now being carried on in this 
Mexican military usurper for turning traitor and , country; that at least one cargo of slaves from 
selling off a country over which he had no legal ! Africa have been lauded upon our own shores ; 
contral; fit out Walker, Captain Kid, or some! and that it has been impossible to enforce the 
other roving pirate, to make a descent upon i existing laws against the men engaged in it. 
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the rest of Central \ We have now in the Southern States of this 
America, and bring it into subjection for the Union a large, influential party, who openly ad- 
special benefit of the peculiar institution. Then i vocate the repeal of all laws declaring the slave 
overrun Mexico and Centrnl America with sla- j trade piracy. Reinforce this party by adding to 
very, until you have Cuba and some half dozen j its strength and influence the population of Cuba, 
new slave States. Do this, and the South would j and then tell me it will tend to stop the slave 
then be in some condition to go out of the Union j trade? Cuba would open new ports, where 
and establish a great Southern Confederacy. I I slaves could be smuggled in, and the infamou3 
don't say the men who advocate the acquisition J traffic, instead of being "instantly" stopped, 
of Cuba, Mexico, and Central America, are actu- j would be greatly increased. 
ated by any treason plots. I am only demon- j Withdraw your African squadron, leave the 
strating what would seem to be the policy that j great ocean track from Africa to Cuba and our 
would dictate in a given contingency. Gulf ports open to the free passage of the pirate's 

Mr. Chairman, before I sit down, it is due to j flag, and it would be literally lined with piratical 
those who are the advocates of thi3 policv, that : "Wanderers," while the waitings of death from 

up 



the horrors of the middle passage would 
to Heaven from one end of it to the other. 

It may be replied, the "laws" will put a stop 
to the traffic. But, sir, I ask, in all candor, what 
are all your "laws" good for, if they cannot be 
enforced? We have laws now, but, for want of 
power or a disposition, they are not enforced 
against a single transgressor. No man, who i3 



I should notice some of the arguments usea in its 

favor; but the brief time allowed us under the 

hour rule will compel me to be brief upon these 

points. 

1. It is said, we want Cuba for a military 

post; that it is the great key to the Gulf of 

Mexico, and is essential to the protection of our 

extensive commerce upon those waters. Almost 

any amount of patriotic declamation has been I wicked and abandoned enough to land a cargo 

expended upon this point. A single fact put | of Africans upon one of our Southern coasts, 

need have any fears of being punished under 
the laws. 

But there is another idea in this connection I 
desire to notice. The President, in his message 
of December 6, 1S58, in speaking of our "diffi- 
culties " with Great Britain, respecting the right 
of search,- then happily terminated, said, " they 



into the case explodes this whole theory. The 
passage on the east side of the island to the 
capes of Florida is more than eighty miles, and 
on the west side, from Cuba to Yucatan, it is 
more than a hundred miles. You can build 
your fortifications on either or both sides of 
these wide channels, and then it would be out 



I 

could never have arisen, if Cuba had not afford- I 
ed a market for slaves. Whilst the demand fob I 
slaves continues in Cuba, wars will be waged 
among the petty and barbarous chiefs of Africa, { 
for the purpose of seizing subjects to supply this j 
trade." 

If Cuba should be annexed to this Govern- j 
ment who would supply this "demand?" But 
one answer can be given. The importations i 
must come from Africa or the United States — [ 
either one or both. Annexation would in- j 
crease this "demand" for slaves ten-fold, if we 
are to credit the statements of the friends of the 
measure. 

In Mr. Slidell's report to the Senate on this | 
subject, made January 24, 1859, he said: "The 
soil is fertile. * * * Two-thirds of the whole 
island is susceptible of culture, and not a tenth 
part of it is now cultivated." 

It is contended, annexation would bring the 
whole land under culture; and if so, any one can 
calculate for themselves the immense increased 
demaud for slave labor it would produce. Taking 
the theory of the friends of the measure, that its 
consummation would put an end to the foreign 
slave trade, it brings us perhaps to the real cause 
why the slaveholding interests of the South 
favor the purchase of Cuba. According to Mr. 
Slidell's report, from " twenty-five to thirty 
thousand" slaves are annually brought from 
Africa to Cuba; increase this demand tenfold, 
and you erect in Cuba a great market house 
for at least two hundred and fifty thousand doves 
annually, to be supplied from the Southern States. 

Annexation would not stop the slave trade, but 
only change it from benighted Africa to the civil- 
ized Southern States of this Confederacy. It 
would make a great annual market for two 

HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND SLAVES, TO BE RAISED 
AND SHIPPED FM01I THE SLAVE STATES OF THIS 

Union. This is not my theory, or the theory 
of the opponents of annexation, but the logical 
conclusions legitimately arising from the argu- 
ments of its friends. This, reckoning the price 
of negroes at a fair average, would open a new 
annual trade in human flesh and bones and sinew, 
to the South, of nearly two hundred million dollars. 

I now turn to some of the arguments addressed 
to the avarice and cupidity of the North, in favor 
of these territorial acquisitions. 

3. One of the main arguments addressed to the 
consumer is the assumption that it would give 
us cheap sugar. 

In Homans's Cyclopedia of Commerce, it is sta- 
ted that the people of the United States con- 
sumed, in 1857, 628,913,600 pounds of sugar. 
Hon. Miles Taylor, a member of this House from 
Louisiana, in a speech on a former occasion, 
stated that his State that year produced the 
quantity of 279,697,000 pounds. Vermont manu- 
factures annually a large amount of maple sugar, 
and more or less is made in many other of the 
Northern States. W'e talk about the high price 
of sugar, but very few of the people understand 
bow it happens, or how the price can be reduced. 
If they will just look into the annual report of 
the Secretary of the Treasury, made to this Con- 
gress, (Ex. Doc. No. 3,) they will there find that 
the sugar consumers iD this country paid, in 1857, 
a tax or duty on that article of $12,832,950.30. 
Thus the people of the United States had taken 



from their pockets almost thirteen million dollars 
in a single year, to protect the sucw 



3 Of 



Louisiana. 

If we v 
onerous d 
reduce tht 
nex Cuba, 
duty free, 
Louisiana \ 

But the s 



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...v/.y ii tue arti- 



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cle was plaocu uo tbe free list. 

An honorable member of this House from 
Louisiana, [Mr. Taylor,] in a speech in the last 
Congress, in speaking of the injury the annexa- 
tion of Cuba might work to the sugar interest.? 
of his State, made an elaborate argument to 
prove that with no tariff duties on sugar his con- 
stituents could compete with the Cubans, were 
it not for the low price of labor in that Island, 
growing out of the importation of wild Africans 
and coolies, and that annexation would stop 
these importations, raise the price of slave labor 
in Cuba, and in less than a year bring up the 
price of sugar as high without a duty as it is 
now with one. If this theory is true, then all 
this talk about Cuba and cheap sugar is a hum- 
bug. We should have to pay just as much as 
we now do for sugar, and lose in our annual 
revenue to the Government twelve million dol- 
lars, which would have to be levied on other 
articles of importation to furnish money to carry 
on the Government. 

So much for the visionary arguments we so 
often hear about Cuba and cheap sugar. 

4. The fact that in our trade with Cuba we 
import more than we export, is often urged as a 
reason in tavor of annexation ; that if the Island 
belonged to our Government, our exports would 
go in duty free, and that our trade would be in- 
creased. This argument would apply with equal 
force to a large number of foreign ports with 
which we trade, where our imports largely ex- 
ceed our exports. It is said our agricultural in- 
terests would be benefited by opening an addi- 
tional market for breadstntfs. It is true the 
heavy duty laid upon our Hour by the Spanish 
Government almost excludes it from the Cuban, 
market. Thi3 theory of an increased trade in 
agricultural products, in the absence of tariff 
duties, is plausible enough, but stubborn facts 
scatter it to the winds. Our past commercial 
history proves that our farmers have got to de- 
pend mainly upon a home market for their prod- 
ucts. 

A failure in the crops, or a war in the Old 
World, enables us for the time being to compete 
with the agriculturists of Europe and Asia. 
Aside from these contingencies, we export com- 
paratively a small amount of breadstuff's. In 
L821, we exported, in breadstuffs and provisions, 
$12,341,901; and in 1S38, seventeen years after- 
wards, only $9,636,650. In 1846, these exports 
were $27,701,921 ; the next year, they went up 
18,701,12.1; and then the very next year, 
1S48, went down to $37,472,T51 — about one- 
half; and in the year 1859 thev amounted to only 
§38.305,991. 

These facts prove we have no steady reliable 
market abroad for our breadstuffs. Take an- 
other view of the matter. In 1850, the bread- 
stuffs and provisions, products of the United 



States, were valued at $632,473,178. Our ex- 
ports of that year of the same articles amounted 
to only $26,051,373. If Cuba was annexed to 
us, her market would be open to competition in 
the articles of breadstuff's and provisions of the 
whole world, unless we pursued the same poli- 
cy Spain pursues towards us — levy duties suffi- 
ciently high to prevent importation to her mar- 
kets — and this the bread-growing countries of 
the Old World would not permit, without a re- 
taliation, which would injure our foreign trade 
as much. 

Again : there is another view to be taken of 
this question. If annexation should take place, 
and it should create an increased demand for 
flour and other breadstuffs, and consequently 
raise the prices of these articles, while it might 
swell the coffers of the producers, it would im- 
poverish and make poorer the consumers, which 
are a much larger class in our own country. 

Mr. Chairman, there is a remedy for all these 
evils, without the acquisition of foreign terri- 
tory. It is found in the treaty-making power, 
in the comity that exists between our country 
and the other nations of the world. Where is 
the man so ignorant that he does not know that 
we have our commercial treaties with nearly every 
nation on the face of the globe? Look at the 
enormous sums, the millions, we have expended 
in our attempts to open a trade with Japan. 

Sir, if our Government, instead of getting up 
"Ostend Manifestoes," instead of keeping up an 
everlasting clamor about " Manifest Destiny," 
and the " gravitation of the Queen of the An- 
tilles towards the American shores ; " if, instead 
of magnifying every little difficulty between our 
own and the Spanish Government, for the very 
purpose of getting up a war of rapine, plunder, 
and conquest ; if, instead of menacing and bul- 
lying Spain, harassing and following her up 
with our insulting attempts to wrest from her, 
someliO'M, the richest gem in her national dia- 
dem — we would show to her the magnanimous 
bearing of a great and powerful nation, treat 
with her as we treat with other nations, in a 
spirit of comity and kindness, and no longer 
vex and worry her by our insidious attempts to 
rob her of a portion of her territory, we should 
have no difficulty whatever in negotiating trea- 
ties which would open to our people her Cuban 
ports, and enrich American citizens with the 
profits of her trade. 

So with Mexico and Central America. Call 
off your dogs of war: keep at home your unprin- 
cipled, roving, piratical filibusters, who, actuated 
by the spirit of the ancient Goths and Vandals, 
would overrun her territories, rob, plunder, and 
murder her citizens. Leave these Governments 
to settle their own quarrels in their own way. 
What are we to gain by mixing up our people 
with the domestic broils of Mexico? We are a 
great and powerful nation ; she is a weak and 
almost powerless Government. For the United 
States to engage in a war with her, would be an 
act next to national cowardice. Our intercourse 
with these Governments should be conducted in 
a spirit of amity. What is right towards us as 
a people, we should sternly demand ; and if our 
negotiations are conducted upon high and hon- 
orable grounds upon our part, our claims will be 
justly met, without a resort to the horrors of 
war. 

Mr. Chairman, if there is any one thing the 



8 

people of this Union need above all others, it is 
peace, quiet, rest from these storms of agitation 
that have beat upon us with such fury for the 
last six or seven years. The public mind wants 
repose. The political storm has long, long raged 
with fearful, unabated violence. Who does not 
ardently desire a little sunshine — to gaze once 
more upon the placid beauties of a serene sky? 

But it is in vain to hope for peace or domestic 
quiet, so long as the self-styled Democracy are in 
power in this Government. The very element 
upon which they live and breathe is pro-slavery 
agitation. Their fanatical schemes develop them- 
selves one day in one form, another day in some 
other form. In 1854, under the pretext of "es- 
tablishing a principle," they violated all principle 
and national honor. 

We have had old political dogmas, and new 
political dogmas. We have been told to look 
this way and look that way for salvation. We 
have had eras of intervention and non-interven- 
tion, squatter sovereignty and Congressional 
sovereignty. One day the people of the Terri- 
tories are told they are u perfectly free" to form 
their own institutions ; the next day, drunken 
rioters, headed by paid Government officials, 
burn their cities, ravage their fields, steal their 
property, and butcher th< ir citizens in cool 
blood. To-day they are told to " vote slavery 
up, or vote it down," in their own way ; to-mor- 
row, an armed mob of invaders from a foreign 
State drive them from the polls, and stuff their 
ballot-boxes with fraudulent votes. One day 
they are told to frame their own Constitution ; 
the next day, the whole force of the Administra- 
tion is engaged in attempts to cram down their 
throats the Lecompton swindle, nolens volens. 
We have plots for buying Cuba, and stealing 
Cuba; protecting Mexico, and conquering Mex- 
ico. In Utah, polygamy and 'moral pollution 
basks in the very sunshine of squatter sover- 
eignty. Our mail-bags are rifled with impunity 
by petty postmasters, under the approving eye 
of the Postmaster General, and their contents 
burned in the streets. For entertaining opin- 
ions, peaceable citizens are threatened with 
mobs and death if found too far south. If the 
people elect the President of their choice, the 

' Capitol is to be pulled down over "our heads, 
and demolished, from "turret to foundation 
stone," and the Union involved in one general 
" smash-up." Thus, the country has been kept 
in one continual whirl of excitement and agita- 
tion. Where is the remedy ? I answer, in the 
language of the old B,oruan Senator, "Carthage 
must be destroyed." The party in power must be 

I driven out, through the potency of the ballot-box. 
The people from the North and the South, the 

i East and the West, should rise up as one man, 
and declare war against this wicked Administra- 
tion, and the party that sustains it. 

In this contest, let the good and the patriotic 
from every section come to the rescue. Let us 
forget our sectional predilections and prejudices, 
and rally for a common country ; and, before 
the God of our fathers, pledge our lives and 
sacred honor never to lay down our arms until 
the old "golden era of good feeling" shall again 
shed its hallowed influences over our whole land, 
and the councils of the nation again be guided 
by the wisdom, the justice, and the patriotism, 
of the illustrious men who gave us a republican 
Government. 



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